Where Are The Seven Wonders Of The World?

Throughout the ages, the humankind tried to produce works which would make mark, which would be adored by the future generations and which may even be passed down to the pages of the history books. That is why, the desire to build the better and the more beautiful has been with the humankind in any and all ages.

For the ages, many writers, researchers and artists, the historians being the first, has looked around for the answer of this question; “What is the most beautiful work of art in the world?” The term the Seven Wonders of the World was first coined by Herodotus around 5 BC but failed to be realized. 300 years later, Antipater from Sidon penned a work named “On the Seven Wonders of the World” and listed them in his work. This list is acknowledged as the Seven Wonders of the World. The works in the list are;

The Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

The Colossus of Rhodes

The Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt

Of those structures, only the Great Pyramid at Giza managed to survive. The rest were either destroyed or are almost completely destroyed.

The Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt

In some sources, all Egyptian pyramids are categorized into the Seven Wonders. However, only the Great Pyramid of Giza is included to this list. As we mentioned above, this remains as the sole structure that has survived up to this day. It is located at the Plateau of Giza within Cairo, the capital city of Egypt. The Great Pyramid is the oldest structure from the Seven Wonders. It was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu in 2560 BC and it took around 22 years to complete. This pyramid, just like the other ones, was built to serve as the catacomb of the pharaoh. The Great Pyramid is 145,75 meters in height and 229 meters in width. It has an inclination of 510 with an error rate of less than %0,1. The chamber of the pharaoh is located at a height of 40 meters from the ground and approximately 100 meters below the apex.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is said to be built by the Babylonian King, The Nebuchadnezzar II. This structure, which is rumored to be located in the middle of the barren Mesopotamian Desert is a series of climbing gardens that includes artificial mountains, various kinds of plantation and flowing waters. It is indicated that its length reaches to 80 kilometers with a width of 25 meters and height of 97 meters. Today’s research in this regard yield no results to obtain definite traces of the gardens however, the archeologists, who work in the vicinity, unearthed some weird looking grounds and cross vaults in the northeast of the Babylonian Palace. It is suspected that those remains belong to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Designed by the Greek Architect Chersiphron and made by the King of Lydia, Croesus in the name of the Goddess Artemis in 550 BC. The most renowned sculptures of the time worked on the project. This structure, entirely built out of marble was adorned with bronze statues. As the Temple used as a religious purposes, it was also benefited as a venue of commerce and trade. This work of art with the length of 90 meters and width of 45 meters, was destroyed by someone named Herosteamus, who wanted to immortalize his name, 200 years after its completion.

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece

The Statute of Zeus, completed in 456 BC, was dedicated to Zeus, for whom the Olympic Games were organized. Those games, which were the primal source of entertainment for the Greek People of that era, took their name from the city of Olympia, where the games were held. As the result of the increasing importance of the games, which were called as the Olympics by the Greek People, and their proliferation, Greek wanted to built a temple that would be worthy of Zeus, the King of the Gods.

The Statute was transported to Istanbul (Constantinople back then) by the Greek after the Roman Empire Theodosius I banished the games but was destroyed by a fire in 462 AD.

The Colossus of Rhodes

Made by the Rhodians in 282 BC in the name of Helios, the God of Sun. it took 12 years to complete this statue, which was 32 meters tall and was holding a torch in its hand. It is said that even a finger of this colossal statue was as long as two adults. The Rhodians made this statue as a monument of victory after defeating the MacedonianKing Demetrious and they believed that this statue provided protection for them. This huge structure that stood tall for 56 full years was crumbled as the result of an earthquake after breaking off from the knee section.

The Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt

This is a lighthouse, built by the Alexander the Great in 290 BC in order to provide security to sailors and to help them navigate. The Lighthouse, which stood close to 166 meters, was built on the island of Pharos, on the shore of Alexandria, Egypt out of white marble. It was and is the tallest lighthouse ever made to this day. At night, the reflection of the fire, lit right in front of its glazed mirrors, could be seen from as far as 50 kilometers. The middle section of the lighthouse, which managed to survive for a considerable amount of time, collapsed in 10th Century as the result of the earthquakes and natural conditions and the lighthouse was completely destroyed in 15th century.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Bodrum

The Mausoleum is the tomb of the Persian Satrap Mausollos made by his wife and sister and was commissioned to an architect named Pythea. The structure was erected in Bodrum, also known as Halicarnassus back then. The dimensions of the Mausoleum were 45 meters (height) by 30 meters (width) by 25 meters (length). There was a war chariot, drawn by 4 horses at the top of the Mausoleum, which symbolized the victories and on the top of the chariot, there were the statues of the King Mausollos and his wife. This tomb was preserved until XI. Century but the Knights of St John’s, during the Crusades, demolished the Mausoleum in order to Built the Castle of Bodrum, which still stands today, and used up almost all the stone material for the work for the castle.

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